A computer network typically comprises one or more nodes interconnected by communication links and segments for transporting data traffic. These nodes, such as personal computers, servers, etc., may interact with one another through one or more intermediate network nodes, such as routers. For interaction between multiple network domains (e.g., autonomous systems or “ASes”) one or more edge routers may be employed that allow nodes of different domains to communicate. A particular type of edge router, for example, is an optimized edge router (OER), which may be used to gather network statistics, such as bandwidth, delay, jitter, etc., from communication pathways to help calculate an optimal (e.g., “best”) path through which the traffic should travel between the domains (e.g., ASes). In particular, the edge routers may relay the statistics to a routing master controller (RMC) of their respective domain, which may then use those statistics to determine and enforce the optimal path. For example, the optimal path may be determined according to one or more traffic policies, such as based on given traffic types, destination address prefixes, etc. Upon determining the optimal paths, the RMC may notify the edge routers and other routers/devices (of its respective domain) of the optimal paths so those routers/devices may handle traffic in the network accordingly.
Computer networks may also employ distributed security/control services (e.g., with a security/control server and one or more security/control agents) to enforce security/control policies within the network. For example, to ensure secure operation of the network, a particular control policy may involve assigning priorities to different types of traffic, as well as defining actions to be taken in the event of, inter alia, a detected threat, an attack, and/or other actions. Generally, the security/control server may define and distribute the relevant control policies to the one or more agents (e.g., acting on nodes of the network), which are responsible for locally enforcing the specified control policies on the respective nodes (e.g., by taking action, such as marking priorities on traffic, etc.). Notably, the control policies may be further acted upon by routers in the network, such as based on the priorities marked on traffic at the agents, etc.
There may be occasions, however, where a particular network may have both a security/control server and an RMC in operation. Conventionally, there is little or no interaction between the control server and the RMC, and as such, the RMC typically has no knowledge of the control server's traffic policies (and vice versa), that is, without inefficient and cumbersome manual configuration. Accordingly, the RMC would thus be unable to optimize routing paths of the network domain based on those control server traffic policies. Furthermore, without collaboration between the control server and the RMC, conflicts between each of their policies may arise, such as different priority assignments and handling for particular types of traffic, etc.